Mar
28
2009
Sponsored review:
We webmasters are always looking for good web hosting. The best option is to own your own server and handle everything yourself. However, this is not always possible so a webmaster needs to weed through the hosting options to find the best solution.
Web Hosting Choice is a site that is designed to help sort through the crap to bring the best web hosting sites to the top. When making your choice, it is very important to understand the terms and to understand what they offer and what you need. Their website offers a full guide and explains what to look for and what to avoid.
Like most web hosting review sites, they list the top ten and other reviews of web hosting companies. However, they also offer a way to search for something particular you may be looking for. For example, if you are looking for adult hosting, all you have to do is click on their link for that and it will show all the hosts that accept adult sites. Web Hosting Choice also has many guides from a basic guide for new webmasters to a guide about avoiding hosting scams, they try their best to inform visitors on what to look for and how to find the best web hosting.
The site is very easy to use and offers some good information. The site is not much different than many other web hosting review sites but it is worth the visit for a webmaster just starting out or someone looking for a new web host.
Dec
29
2008
Shortly after posting my last post I received an interesting email from one of my regular readers. He said that he has not only used the Boss Cart software, he also has a host provider who provides it as part of his UK Web Hosting. He sent me a link so I checked out this hosting company.
The hosting company is Velnet Web. They offer several packages from basic shared hosting to full Ecommerce eShop UK plan. The ecommerce plan offers many features that I am looking for and included the software that I have decided to use. The plan comes with a full year of hosting and even includes the domain name. It is a ready made set up site ready for me to just plug in my own products.
I love to play around with website designing and set up but it is nice to have a site ready to go when I have the product set and ready. Time is money and anything that can be done for you is both a money and time saver. I was however a little worried about the fact that I would not be able to have some creativity with my own shop. Being that it was all set up by the hosting company.
I did a little research and found that they do set up the sites but they also offer a Free Editable Website. They will customize the original site for you and then you have an admin panel, not much different than Word Press, which allows you to edit the page and add or take away features with ease. There are no programming or special skills needed. In fact, you do not even to know HTML. The page is created by the popular CMS software Joomla.
Velnet offers a great package for anyone to jump into the online commerce world and succeed. As soon as I get the agreement worked out for my products, I am hoping to get my new shop up and running.
Sep
05
2008
I am always on the look out for quality webmaster resources to share with my readers. One of the biggest problems for new and even experienced webmasters is finding quality hosting for their website or blog. If you have followed my blog, you will know that I prefer quality hosting even if it is not the cheapest.
I recently discovered Imhosted.com which offers great Website Hosting. I decided to check into the different packages and see what they were all about. The first thing I discovered on their website was that they lay it all out in simple and easy terms. What you see is what you pay with no hidden cost.
They offer one shared hosting plan at $6.95 a month. This is not the cheapest plan I have seen but they offer unlimited websites on that plan and it comes with 2,500GB space and 20,000 GB bandwidth. This is a huge package and will be more than enough for any webmaster. They also offer a full 24/7 support system for the hosting package.
On top of the shared hosting package, they offer three different reseller package to meet the needs of hosting resellers. On all their hosting packages, they offer a money back guarantee and they promise a 99.5% up time. Unlike many other hosts who promise that, if they fail to deliver at least that, they will credit a portion of your fee for that month. For the last six months, they have had a 99.998% up time for their servers.
I liked everything I have read and have spoken to a friend who uses them. I would welcome comments on this blog from others who have used their services. I also have provided a link for you to check them out for yourself.
Remember, when deciding on a web hosting company, do your research and look for a guarantee. Be willing to pay a little more to go with a company that offers good support and great packages. Cheap is not always better when your site is always down. I recommend checking out Imhosted to see of they have what you are looking for. If you sign up, please come back and share your experience with my other readers.
Jul
07
2008
Finding good quality hosting is always a challenge. There are many hosting sites that off free or super cheap rates and when you start using them, you end up with slow loading, massive downtime, and no support when you need it. This can be super frustrating. That is why it is important to look for a company you can trust.
The good news is that there are affordable web hosting companies that will provide excellent service and provide great uptime. The key to finding this is to read all terms of service and read what they promise to you.
There is a limit to everything when it comes to hosting. Packages that promise unlimited everything for $1 a month is the type of stuff you should avoid. Cheaper is not better and you should look for reliability. The company should offer at least 99% uptime and 24/7 support. Problems do not always happen between 9 to 5 weekdays so their support team should be there when you need them.
Be sure that the plan you pick covers what your needs are. How many sites will you have? How much space will you need? How much traffic will you have each month? These are all questions you need to answer and than ask upfront if the plan you choose will cover that. Remember, if you use a lot of big images or loads of video, this will require more bandwidth than just a text site.
Ask everything up front and make sure you know what you are paying for. One thing to consider is who is in charge of keeping back ups of your site. If the host provides back ups, this is a huge plus if anything every happens. You also want to know if the price is discounted if you pay by the year instead of the month. This could save quite a bit of money for you.
Good hosting is out there and with the right research and the right questions, you can find the best for great prices.
May
30
2008
One of the first steps in creating a website or blog is registering a domain name. When doing so, you need to make sure you are dealing with a Domain Names registrar that is reliable and easy to deal with. There are certain factors you want to look at.
First, you want to make sure that you are able to transfer your domain to another registrar if you are not happy with them. All registrars are required to allow you to transfer a domain but some make it very difficult. The other thing you want to check is how easy it is to transfer to a new owner if you wish to sell the domain name. I used a company by the name of Ipower and they required you to have forms signed by both the buyer and seller and have the form notarized before you could switch owners. This made it impossible for me to sell a name I no longer needed so I lost the name. There are many that allow you to just transfer to a new owner if the owner has an account with them. These are normally free accounts. Make sure your registrar does this before signing up with them. I know for sure GoDaddy and Namecheap both offer this service.
Next, you want to do your research to see what others are saying in regards to problems and support. A domain registrar should be able to provide great customer service and quick help. I have dealt with several companies and I can honestly say, the one I am with now has been the best so far. I have been with NameCheap for over two years and I have not had any problems and the service is excellent. The manage domains interface is easy to use and when I did sell a domain name, it took seconds to transfer it to a new owner.
The final thing to look at is price. This to me means very little if the rest of the factors do not add up. Be wary of great first year offers. Make sure you know what the cost will be for renewal. Several companies offer free WhoIs Privacy for the first year free then they charge from $2.88 to $9.95 a year after that for the WhoIs protection. Make sure you know this upfront. I was with GoDaddy and their’s went from free to $8.88 and it was a pain to try and figure out how to get it off my account without paying for it with the renewal. With NameCheap, it was free the first year and $2.88 for the renewal. However, you could just choice it or not choice it and it was not automatically applied to your bill.
One last piece of advice. Never ever register your domain the same place you have your hosting account. If you do this and your site is ever shut down for any reason, you lose both the access to your site and to your domain name. At least if you have the domain at a separate place, you can use file back ups and a new host to get your site up and running.
This article will get you started, make sure you do your research before buying any service.
Have any advice or question to add to this advice? Please leave a comment and I will do my best to answer or add your advice for others to read.
